Submitted by jonas on
[28 February 2015] - On 23rd February, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi issued black warrants for the execution of a 16 year old boy Muhammad Afzal along with Muhammad Faisal and scheduled their execution for 05 March at Central Jail, Karachi. Afzal and Faisal were sentenced to death in 1999 by an anti-terrorism court for killing a man during a robbery. Afzal was 16 years old at the time; both Afzal and Faisal spent 10 months imprisoned in a juvenile prison. Neither of them are terrorists nor are they linked with any terrorist organisation.
Their trial and appeals are riddled with gross human rights violations; one of the three judges on the Supreme Court bench that dismissed their appeal was their trial judge who convicted and sentenced them during trial. Their sentences were confirmed upon appeal to the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Their mercy petitions were pending before the President of Pakistan since 2009, until they were arbitrarily rejected on 17th of February 2015.
Afzal, who was barely 16 years old at the time, and Faisal are not terrorists. They were falsely implicated in the case against them, whereas the real culprits still remain at large. Afzal, Faisal and Kashif were waiting outside a house while three unidentified men entered the house with the intention to rob. However, during the robbery, one of the three unidentified men shot and killed the occupant, Abdul Jabbar, and fled from the scene. Unaware of what had happened, Afzal, Faisal and Kashif were still waiting outside the house when the police arrived. The police arrested all three of them, who were then charged, tried and sentenced to death. Kashif died in jail shortly after his conviction and sentencing.
Maryam Haq, Legal Director of Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) said: “The fact that the Government of Sindh has scheduled the execution of yet another child after the near execution of 14 year old Shafqat Hussain is appalling. As with Shafqat, the State is about to make an unimaginable mistake in executing Afzal and Faisal; they are not terrorists and have no affiliation with any terrorist organization. Their execution, as with Shafqat Hussain’s, will do nothing to reduce the terror threat in this country. How many Shafqat Hussain’s and Muhammad Afzal’s will it take before the State acts responsibly and fixes the flaws in our criminal justice system that is killing our innocent children?”